Elastic-fluid turbine.



l Witnesses: v

No. 840,376. I PATENTED JAN. l, 1907.v R ..H. RICE. i

BLASTIG FLUID TUR-B'IN-E. AYPLIGATIoN-PILBD 'JUNE 14, 1906.

I a SHEETS-SHEET 1.

h @wou W PATENTED JAN. l, 1907.

y R. H. RICE. BLAsTIo FLUID TURBINE.

` APPLICATION FILED JUNE 14, 1.906.

a sanne-SHEET a.

UNITED STATES PATENT, OEEICE;

RICHARD H. .'RICE, OE LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIeNoR To'. GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OE NEW YORK.

ELAsTlc-FLUID TURBINE.'

v Patented Jan. 1, 190'?l Appiiaioniediune14,1906. Serin No. 321.617.

citizen of the U nited-States, residing at Lynn,-

county of Essex, State of Massachusetts,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in vElastic-Fluid Turbines, of

' of buckets, as desired. Between each twowhich the following is aspecication.

The present invention relates to elastic-v iiuid turbines, and has for its object to improve their construction, particularly with reference to assembling and taking them ldown and increasing the accessibility of the Parts.

' l In the accom anying drawings, which illustrate one of the embodiments of my invention, Figure 1 is an axial section of a multistage impact-turbine with certain ofthe parts in elevation. Fig. 2 is an enlarged section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged endview with certain 'of the parts broken away and others in tsection toillustrate the interior structure of the turbine,

`and Fig. 4 Shows an enlarged section ofthe means employed. to secureltheA intermediate buckets.

1 represents the main shaft, upon which are bucket-wheels 2, as many of-these wheels being provided as are necessary to abstract the energy of the motive fluid. The wheels may be provided with one, two, or more rows rows of buckets:v on the same wheel are intermediate bucketsforreversing the direction of flow of the steam and discharging it at the ro er an le yagainst 'the adjacent wheelthat ismade up of sections 3. .Each of these sections is made in the form ofa ring and is provided with .a diaphragm 4, formed integral therewith, and also with a'nges 5, by means of wl'ifu'ch adjacent sections of the casing can be unitcd. A. The casing is divided along the rizontal axial plane, as shown in Fig. 3, so atjthe upper half can be moved bya crane attached. to the eyebolts 6. Each of the diaphragms is rovided with a` hub surrounding the main s aft 1, and supported by the hiib is a 'casing 7,'divided -into ltwo parts byla division-plate 8. Situated on opposite sidesof the division-plate arelpackingrings 9,? that Vengage with the lhubscf the wheels and prevent-the free paseagezofhsteam from one sta losses.

t urrounding the wheels is a casing y ge or wheel-compartment to the other.

Steam or other elastic fluid is admitted to the turbine by thenozzles 10, which may be expanding or non-'expanding in their character. The individual assages ofthe nozzle or nozzles are preferab y, but not necessarily, closely associated in order to reduce splll Between one sta e and the nextare stage-nozzles 11 of suitab e size to handle the steam at its decreased pressure and increased volume. The nozzles .may either be folmed in the diaphragms, as shown in the third stage, or attached lto the diaphragm, Vas shown in the second stage. g

The admission nozzle or nozzles are bolted to the valve-chest 12, the latter being secured to the upper half of the high-pressure head of the machine by bolts. The valves are operated by means of a suitable valvegear. p l

Briefly,- the governing mechanism comprises a rock-shaft 1 3, an actuating-lever '14,

that is continuously rocking the shaft to and fro, steam-levers 15, secured to the rockshaft and carrying dogs V16 and 17, and camplatesV 18, located .one behind the Other, which act on the'stems of the valves 19.

Each pair of dogs- 16 and 17is arranged to'4 move the cam in one direction orthe other, and Vthus open or close avalve, as the case may be. Their action is `controlled by .a shield-plate 2O,v the latter being connected to the governor 21' by means of the lever 22 and suitable adjusting connecting-rods.. Each valve is provided with a cam, asteaIn-lever carrying the actuating-dogs, and-aA shieldplate, the actuating-lever 14` being common. to all of the valves. The lever 14 is actuated by the connecting-rod 23 from the crank 24, the latter being mounted on a secondary or lowspeed shaft 25, extending at right angles to the axis ofthe main shaft and located in a,

casing forming a part of the bearing-support.-

Y In apparatus of Vthischaact'erv itI is neces- I sary to supply oil to the-different parts by a 'forced circulation, and in order to do this I provide a punp'co rnprisin'g gears 29 and 30,V v that are mounted upon separate-shafts, one

above the other, the'gear 29 meshing with .a pinion 30, mountedon the low-speed shaft 25. The shafts 3L and 32,` carrying the i 'gears of the pump), are mounted in suitable bearings carried a vertical partition 33 and a support 34, located Within the support for the lmain shaft-bearing. The front Wall 5 35 of the -casing is made removable, so that after the oil 1s drained out of the coignp'artment the gears Will be exposed. The Worin 27 and Worm-WheelZ are supplied with oil by the pipe 36, (shown in dotted.lines,) `and the Wormfis provided with a casing 37, kthat serves tozconfine the lubricant to the Worm.

Situated' below the worm-Wheel 2,6 is a tray 38, which catches lubricant discharged from 4above and' retains at all times van amount sufficient to lubricate'l the Wheel. The crank-'disk 39 on the low-speed shaft 25 isprovided Witha recess 40, which catches oil thrown from'or Working out of the adj acent parts and conveys it into the passage 41, extending through the crank-pin 24, and

' thus lubricating the 'bearing-surfaces at this point. The gears 29 and 30 arepractically immersed in oil,` andthe oil thrown from the rotating. gears is caught by the bearingv'supports adjacent thereto and per pitted to jects under a cylindrical Wall or the nozzle 'iiow into the oil-passages 42 and lubricate the shaft-bearings. I A V In the operation of elastic-fluid; 'turbines it is necessary to reduce as much as possible the losses due to leakage and those due to the fan-like action' of the. idle and rapidly-rotating buckets. In order to reduce the 'leakage losses, I providethe nozzles with a lip 43, as shown in Fig. 4, and the adjacent Wheelbucketlisprovided with a lip 44, that proand in close proximity thereto; It will thus be seen that forany steam to escape in itsv assage from the nozzle 11 to the Wheel-bue ets l itmust first pass at vright angles to-its normal path and then turn and low parallel to its normal path. In the' case of the lip 43 the steam, after p assing'through the radlal clearance and turning, will oW in the same. di-

. rection that it did before; but in the case of sistance to leakage the lip 44 the direction of the steam-dow is reversed, thereby greatly increasing the re- In both cases the resistance to'leakage is high Without, however, having contacting surfaces.

The intermediate buckets 45 are cut or formed integral With the base 46. The outer ends of the buckets lare provided With dove- .ftailprojections l47, that 'enter av dovetail groove in' a support 48, the latter being seated ina grocveformed in the inner Wall of the casing. The supports are securedin' sedare .plac'eby bolts 49, entering from the outsideets 45 are secured to the support by axiallyextending bolts or rivets 50. The segments carrying the buckets are slipped into the supplace by forcing the sides ofthe support together. With such a'construction lthere is agroove extending circumferentially, and in order tol cover this over so that'a smooth surface Will be presented to the steam a liningtermediates are assembled.

In 'order to reduce the rotation losses of the idle-Wheel buckets, the nozzle-rings are -made to extend entirely around the Wheel-buckets, particularly'in the early stage or stages Where the nozzle passages or sections cover only a This strip is mounted in place before the in- Thevintermediate buckets extend only partially around the Wheel, and the remaining 'portion is filled by a'blank cylindrical Wall 52, Fig. 1. The samel arrangement is followed'in each of thelsucceeding stages, the arc covered by the nozzles increasing around the:i Wheel from the' high to the low pressure en steam-from the buckets. ported by .aplate' 56, the latter' heing'ma e fast toa diaphragm or other suitables'upport. `Inall of the stages except the last, which 'is connected tothe exhaust-conduit 57, it is desirable to prevent'as much aspos- Ward theshaft and through the packing of the adjacent stage Without doing. useful Work. This is accomplished by providing the shield 53 with `lips 58, extending circumferentially and in close proximity to the diaphragme' f v vIn accordance Withthe provisions of the lpleof--operation of my invention, .together With the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure 1. An elastic-fluid turbine cornprisingrela-` and provided: With conicall 'surfaces just below the head to prevent leakage. The buckstrip 51 is provided having holes punched out to receive the dovetail ends ofthe bucket 45.

n In order to reduce the rotation losses on- .the exhaust side of the Wheel, a shield 53 is.

I desire to have it understoodthat the appai ratus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means.

by Letters Patent of the United States, is`

ports Vfrom one' end and afterward secured inl small portion ofthe periphery o f the Wheel.

The shield is pro-.

or less extent to assist lin exhausting the,

The shield 'issuf sible the tendency of the steam to dovv' tcpatent Vstatutes I have'described the princitively rotating parts, in combination'with a l gear-pump, and a support that is common to main shaft, a valve mechanism, a secondary the bearings of the secondary and pump-V shaft driven by the main shaft, gearing beshafts. y 40 tween the main and secondary shafts, a 5. In an elas c-fluid turbine, the combinameans driven by the secondary shaft for action of a fluid-discharging device, a buckettuating the valve mechanism, and a lubricatwheel, a lip on the discharging -device which ing-support, and a gear mounted on the secpump-gears for driving it.v

tivelyrotatingparts and 'a main shaft, in v combination with a b'earingtherefor, a secondaryshaft extending at right angles to the main shaftandcarriedby the bearing-support, a reciplrocating member driven by the `ondary shaft and meshing with one of the.

ing-pump geared to'and driven by the secondary shaft. i

2. An elastic-fluid turbine comprising relatively rotating parts and a main shaft, in combination with a bearing therefor, a secondary shaft carried-byl the bearing-support, gearingl betweenthe vmain and secondary shafts, a `gear-pump also carried by the bearprojects over the periphery ofthewheel, and l a cylindrical projection on the Wheel that eX- 4' 5 tends under the discharging device. x

6. In an elastic-fluid turbine, the combination of a support that issplitfto provide a yielding clamping member andl contains `a bucket-receivinggroove, buckets, the' ends 5o of which extend into the groove, and means' for causing the parts of thev supportto vclamp the buckets. v i -v 7 Inan elastic-fluid turbine, the combination of a split support having a dovetail 55 groove, buckets vwith the ,'endsmounted therein,-` means for clamping the parts of the support to hold the buckets, and a liningstrip inserted between'the support and the main body of the buckets.

8. In an elastic-fluid turbine, the combination of wheel-buckets and-'fluid-discharging devices, a shield to reduce the rotation losses Y. of the idle buckets, and a vcircumferential flange coperating with the shield to reduce 65 y the tendency of the motive fluid to leave its normal path. u

In witness whereof I have hereunto. set my hand this 12th day of June, 1906.

RICHARD II. RICE.

ondary shaft and meshing withl one of the .An elasti '.-juid turbine comprising relaaftf'ge betweenthe shafts,

secondary-s a gearpump comprising meshingA gears, shafts therefor extending parallel to the secondary shaft,anda gearn'iounted on the secgea'rs of the pum s to drive it.

4. An elasticuid turbine comprising relatively rotating `parts anda main drivingshaft,`in'combination with a bearing therefo a secondary shaft extending at right angl s to the main shaft, gearing between the l two, a casing inclosingthe gearing to confine Witnesses:

the lubricant and insure proper distribution j JOHN A. MCMANUS, Jr., thereof, bearingsforthe secondary shaft, av PHILIP F. HARRINGTON. 

